Footwear



Patented Mar. 7, 1944 FOOTWEAR Madison D. Pickens, Philadelphia, Pa.,assignor to Machine da Tool Designing Co., Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application May 19, 1943, Serial No. 487,627z claims. (ci. se-ilsi This invention relates to footwear and, inparticular, to the provision of new and improved shoes or sandals forsport and other wear, which may be constructed entirely of wood,Pregwood," Compregwood," plastic, textile and other non-strategicmaterials, in order to relieve the shortage in leather and in metalhardware necessary for the construction f conventional shoes or sandals.

It is a particular object of this invention to provide such footwearwhich is of extreme lightness and flexibility and which may be cheaplymanufactured in large quantities, in order to Y relieve the leatherfootwear shortage.

These and other objects and advantages will appear from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Inthe drawing:

Fis'. l is a top plan view of a shoe constructed according to theprinciples of this invention with portions of the straps, or upper, cutaway in the interest of clearness of disclosure;

Fig. 2 is a View in side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2; V

Fis. 6 is a view in side elevation of a modiiied form of the invention;

Fig. 7 is a view taken on the line of l-l of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is an exploded view, partly cut away, illustrating the manner inwhich the toe straps are connected to the insole, outsole, and separatorblock.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the shoe illustrated in Figs. l-5comprises a block forming the sole and heel of the shoe as well Iasproviding a support for the insole The upper surface of the heel and toeportions of the block I0 is formed substantially complementary to theunder surface of a foot, except that the central portion is cut away atI2 for lightness and also for support of the insole II, in such manneras to utilize to the fullest, the yieldability or resilience thereof.

The insole il is bonded to the heel portion at I4 and also to the toeportion at I5 by any suitable cement or adhesive as, for instance, hotglue or cold glue in the case of a wood block I0 and plywood insole Il.Cptionally, the lower surface of the main or block portion Il isprovided with an outsole Il of plywood, plastic. composition or thelike, which is particularly advantageous where the main or block portioni0 is formed of a light material, such as balsa, basswood or cypress,lacking, somewhat, in wearing qualities though possessed of suchlightness as to make it otherwise desirable. The outsole I6 is attachedto the block i0 by any suitable adhesive.

Since the shoe illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive is of -the sporttype, the upper portion thereof is of skeleton form and comprises,generally, a toe or instep strap Il, an ankle strap I9, and a heel strap20.

The forward or toe portion of the block i0 is provided with a slot 2|adjacent but below the upper surface of the toe portion, through whichslot the toe strap or instep strap I8 extends. As shown in Fig. 4, theends of the toe strap il are preferably overlapped at 22 and securedtogether in any suitable manner as by stitching. The overlapped,attached, end portions of the toe strap or instep strap I8 are drawninto the slot 2| and adhesively secured in position after theirattachment together in order that the seam' shown in Figs. l and 2. Bymeans of suitable adhesive 25, the central portion of the'ankle strap I9is secured immovably in the position desired as shown in Fig. 3. Eachend of the heel strap 20 is secured at 2i to one branch of the anklestrap i9, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, by stitching 21 or by any othersuitable means.

The relative inclination of the surfaces at opposite sides of the cutoutportion l2 is such as to bring the intermediate or arch portion of theinsole Il into an arch supporting position for forming a structureclosely engaging the arch portion of a wearers foot.

As shown in Fig. 5 the plywood is preferably formed of a multiplicity ofplies 2l bonded together into an integral sheet. with the graindirection of the respective plies 22 non-parallel. The arch formedthereby is possessed of considerable strength and is possessed ofsubstantial resiliency. It forms, in effect, a spring arch supportintegral with the shoe.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, the block Il isomitted and the yieldable, resilient insole 3l has its heel portionsupported by the heel 3| and its toe portion www by the spacer block 32and spacer plate 33 (Figs. 6 and 8). d

Bonded to the lower surfaces of the heel 3|, spacer block 32 and spacerplate 33 is the outsole 34. It will be noted that the forward ends ofthe insole 3l and outsole 34 are given an initial inclination beforetheir joint attachment to the spacer plate 33. This insures that theforward end of the sole shall conform closely to the natural curvatureof the wearers foot.

For lightness, the heel 3| is optionally provided with a plurality ofbores 35 extending from the lower end of the heel partway to the topthereof. The heel portion of the outsole 34 effectively seals the lowerends of these bores as shown in Fig. '7.

The upper of the shoe illustrated in Figs. 6, 'l and 8 may be of anyknown type but is shown of skeleton form for convenience ofillustration. As shown the forward part of the upper comprises a toeportion comprising toe straps or loops 38 and 3l. The loop 36 passesthrough a space 38 provided between the insole 30 and outsole 34 andbetween the forward end of the spacer block 32 and the rear end of thespacer plate 33 as shown in Fig. 8. The loop 3l passes under the insole30, between insole 30 and spacer block 32 being accommodated in thespace provided by the recess 33 in the upper surface of the spacer block32.

The ends of the straps 36 and 31 are preferably overlapped and stitchedtogether in the manner in which the ends of strap I8 are connected as fdescribed above. The intermediate portions of the straps or loops 3B and31 'are connected by any suitable connecting means, if desired, such asthe ornament 40.

The rear part of the upper comprises an ankle strap 4I correspondingwith the above described ankle strap I3 and a heel strap 42corresponding with the above described heel strap 2l and having its endssecured in suitable manner to opposite branches of the ankle strap 4|.As shown the ends of the ankle strap 4| may be tied into a bow 43 orother type of knot. A transverse recess 44 is provided in the uppersurface ofthe heel 3| to provide space for accommodating theintermediate portion of the ankle strap 4|, which passes between theheel portion of the insole 33 and the heel 3|.

A bond 4I secures the lower toe surface of the insole 30 to the uppersurfaces of the spacer block 32 and spacer plate 33 while iixedlysecuring the intermediate overlapped portions of loops38and31inthespace's 33 and 3B,whileasimllar bond 46 secures the upper 0rinner toe 'surface of the outsole 34 with the lower surfaces of thespacer block 32, the spacer plate 33 and strap or loop 33.

In like manner, a bond 41 secures the intermediate portion of the anklestrap 4| in the space provided by the recess 44 while securely attachingthe lower heel surface of the insole 33 to the upper surface of the heel3|.

The lower surface of the heel 3| is securely attached to the outsole 34by a bond 43.

The shape and extent of the heel 3| and spacer block 32 may be widelyvaried to change the length of the unsupported and unattached intermediate portions of the insole 30 and outsole 34 to control thecharacteristics of the shoe by variation of the resiliency of theyieldable arch supporting structure provided by the intermediate, free,portion of the insole 30 and the flexibility of the shoe proper byvariation of the flexibility of the shoe sole, or outsole.

From the above description, it will clearly appear that I have providednew and improved footwear adapted particularly to production,conveniently and cheaply, from readily available non-strategic materialsand which footwear is possessed of properties, namely, flexibility andlightness, heretofore possessed only by footwear constructed of moreexpensive, unavailable strategic materials, such as leather, rubber andthe like.

It is, of course, to be understood that the above description is merelyillustrative and in nowise limiting and that I desire to comprehendwithin my invention all modifications embraced within the scope of theappended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by letters Patent is:

l. A shoe having an inner sole, a block of rigid material having a heelportion, a toe portion, and a connecting web between said portions, andprovided with a cut-out portion lying beneath the inner sole between theheel and toe portions of said block.

2. A shoe having an inner sole, composed of laminated flexible material,a block of rigid material having a heel portion, a toe portion, and aconnecting web between said portions, and provided with a cut-outportion lying beneath the inner sole between the heel and toe portionsof said block.

MADISON D. PICKENS.

